j45 shipping advice

[theblast]

Hi guys, ,hope the weekend is well for you all. So, looks like I'll be sending my J45 back to Bozeman via Fedex for a warranty issue (sympathetic vibration problem). I spoke with Fedex & sounds like they don't offer insurance & recommended I purchase it from an outside carrier. Any suggestions on who to get this sort of thing from? State Farm types don't offer it.

Best,

john

[jchabalk]

Is UPS an option? you can get insurance from them. I took mine to a Mailboxes Etc place and did it from there without any problems...

 

only other thing i can think of is to check out what your credit cards offer. Some of them will cover you for shipping insurance as long as you pay for the shipping costs with that particular card.

 

best of luck!

[jchabalk]

one other thing i just thought of - and i haven't actually done this so ymmv - i called my local guitar center a while back inquiring about a shipping box back to bozeman. They said that they would ship the guitar back for me at no cost, i just had to bring it in. (i hadn't purchased my guitar from them).

 

If you have one local you could check into it. I think it's probably because they do a lot of business and probably send plenty of guitars back to bozeman after people thrash them in the stores..

[theblast]

Those are good ideas. I'll look into them, especially the Guitar Center one. When you shipped yours, did you just put the acoustic in it's case, then the case in the box? Or did you bubble wrap the case or use peanuts in the box?

 

Thanks,

-john

[jchabalk]

i just put the guitar in the case and case in the box (the box had foam inserts at the top at bottom that sort of held the case in there pretty well)

 

I didn't have a box initially and it took me a while the find one. i wasn't in a big hurry to mail it off so it wasn't a big deal. Whenever i was going to be near a shop that sold gibsons i'd call and see if they had a box that would fit mine. I finally got lucky after a couple of months of casual calling around.

 

The guitar was fine shipping that way. The OEM case fits it very snug. Gibson shipped it back to me the same way, no problems at all. If i remember correctly it cost about $70 to ship UPS ground fully insured for full replacement value. I mailed it on a monday from san francisco and it arrived in bozeman on thursday. That $70 stings a little, but the full replacement value would surely sting a whole lot more :)

[suburude63]

"I spoke with Fedex & sounds like they don't offer insurance"

 

?????????

 

I use Fed X Ground almost weekely they offer insurance to me?

I dont know who you were talking to but I have shipped a dozen guitars via Fed X and got them insured??? Jim

[onewilyfool]

Fed ex and UPS have a lot of these little mailbox express type of stores where you can drop off your stuff for shipping. We also have the main depots run by Fedex and UPS employees. The little stores are privately owned. I had to ship a guitar to the east coast and the little stores were charging me $90 fully insured!!! When I went to the main depot of Fedex, the price was $40. It is a bit of a rip off, especially the quotes for insurance. By the way, the USPS was $35, but I have heard some horror stories about the post office....so beware. Also....when you insure, they don't actually give you insurance. They write down "claimed value". If something happens, I imagine then is when the haggling over true value starts. Good luck.Here's a great article on shipping:

 

http://www.cbguitars.com/Packing.htm

[TWilson]

A few years ago I shipped a National Resonator from Oregon to Wisconsin. I took it to the FedEX shipping office and shipped it fully insured for the replacement value for under $40. I went to a guitar store and they gave me a free box that one of their guitars had just arrived in. It had the two molded foam things that fit over the top and bottom of the guitar case inside the shipping box and sort of "suspend" it inside the box. Loosen the strings and pack some newspaper or something around the headstock and anywhere else there is empty space. Works like a charm.

[theblast]

Thanks guys. To clarify:

 

I called an actual FedEx location (2 of them to be exact) & they both told me the same thing. They don't offer "insurance" on anything above $500. If the item is valued at over $500, they put down a Declared Value which is not insurance. IF the instrument is damaged & IF they determine it was FedEx's fault, they MAY offer replacement. Then both of them offered that I purchase "Insurance" somewhere else but had no suggestions as to where. Possibly they just try to pass the buck to a 3rd party so if there is an issue, they don't have to deal with it?

[gearbasher]

. By the way' date=' the USPS was $35, but I have heard some horror stories about the post office....so beware. Also....when you insure, they don't actually give you insurance. They write down "claimed value". If something happens, I imagine then is when the haggling over true value starts. Good luck.Here's a great article on shipping:

 

http://www.cbguitars.com/Packing.htm[/quote']

 

I have to defend "The Mule". Considering they sign the paychecks that keep me in guitars and bicycles. I don't actually handle the mail (I'm a tech.), but I use the USPS for everything. I consider it job security. Also, we are faster than FedEx and UPS ground and, in most cases, cheaper.

As for my experience as a customer, between my brother and myself, we have probably shipped a total of twenty, or so, instruments via USPS Priority mail w/insurance. The only loss suffered was to an fairly inexpensive banjo. The Post Office only asked for a sales receipt and they refunded the value stated on that receipt.